Kilmarnock were boosted by the return of Kevin Kyle
from suspension and Frazer Wright was also back after recovering from a
knock.
Boyd - who had been a doubt with a heavy cold -
looked dangerous from the outset and called goalkeeper Alan Combe into
action in the opening minutes.
The striker raced onto a pass from Ferguson before
trying his luck with an angled drive that the keeper managed to block.
Boyd was threatening again a few minutes later, this
time from a Mendes ball, but, again, a full-stretch Combe was able to
smother and prevent the shot from nestling in his bottom corner.
Instead,
it was Kilmarnock who took a shock lead after 17 minutes.
Gavin Skelton played the ball to Garry Hay, who
delivered a low cross to the feet of Jamie Hamill in front
of goal, and all that was required was to stab home from close range.
Boyd picked up the first booking of the game for
diving when he went to ground just outside the box following a challenge
from Simon Ford.
But he was celebrating with 29 minutes gone when he
grabbed the equaliser. A Mendes corner found Madjid Bougherra at the
back post and he nodded into the path of Boyd to send a superb
right-foot shot past Combe.
Miller then helped himself to a double in the space
of two minutes to send Rangers surging into the lead.
Boyd set up the first after 33 minutes and Miller
raced past Wright into the box and rifled a low shot into the box,
before pouncing on a Mendes cross and squeezing between two Killie
defenders to lash home his second of the day.
Kilmarnock tried to hit back after the break and
Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was called into action to block a
well-struck effort from distance from Hammill.
He then had another go after Kyle teed up the shot
but, this time, the effort was well wide of target.
At the other end, Combe prevented Rangers from adding
to their tally with a decent save at the near post to deny Mendes.
Killie threw Mehdi Taouil into the action and he
slipped a lovely pass out to Kyle on the left but the big striker was
wasteful and saw his angled drive dip well over the crossbar.
Another substitute - Spanish youngster Aaron - could
have added his name to the scoresheet for Rangers late on when he met a
Mendes corner only to see his shot flash across goal and wide.
Miller was then denied his hat-trick by an impressive
block from Combe, who did well to prevent the point-blank shot hitting
the back of the net.
17
mins
